


Two Cents

by Biromantic_Nerd



Series: Penny Parker AU [1]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: (and a hipster), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Fashion icon and CEO Harry Osborn, Fem!Harry Osborn - Freeform, Female Peter Parker, Gen, One Shot, Penny is a fashion photographer, So I wrote another story about Penny, You could view this as a prequel to "Happy Girls Are The Prettiest", fem!Peter Parker - Freeform, female Harry Osborn - Freeform, this story is as fluffy as Penny's hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:11:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6493330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biromantic_Nerd/pseuds/Biromantic_Nerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU fashion photographer female Peter Parker</p><p>The fashion industry may be demanding and brutal, but Penny's actually pretty satisfied with her self-image. No thanks to her boss. A oneshot about the story of Penny Parker, her rude boss, her loving family, and getting her hair cut short. </p><p>Could absolutely be viewed as the prequel to "Happy Girls Are The Prettiest" but you don't need to read that one to read this one. Or vice versa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Cents

Her boss approached her on the topic immediately as she arrived one day, seemingly having had waited for her, not unlike an ambush. 

"Penny." She said gently. "Look over at Jasmine. What do you notice about her? About how she looks?" 

Penny eyed the intern warily. "Uh. She has a nice smile?" 

"No!" Her boss scolded and then paused. "I mean, yes, she does have a nice smile, but that isn't exactly what I was going for." 

Penny eyed her oddly before turning to look at Jasmine once more. "Um. She's trying out a new lipstick?" She guessed, having never seen Jasmine wear orange lipstick before. 

She sighed. "Clearly," She said as she held her forehead in exasperation, "I'm going to have to spell this out for you. Look at her _hair,_ Ms. Parker. Doesn't her hairstyle look nice and fashionable - and professional, even?" 

"Sure." Penny agreed. "I mean, it does look nice." 

"Why do you think that is? No," Her boss held up a hand quickly. "Don't answer that; I'll tell you why. She looks _pretty._ " Penny definitely agreed with that, so she nodded along, but she was a bit wary as to where this was leading.

"Now look at _your_ hair." Her boss commanded with a sneer, and suddenly Penny's bad feeling grew worse. "You've worn your hair down, looking like you haven't taken so much as a comb to it, every single day since I've known you. Please - have some professional decency and just... Do something." 

"Do... what?" Penny asked, even though she was a bit afraid of the answer to that. 

"I don't know! Do you have a straightener? No? Then braid it or something." 

____________________________

She spent two hours trying to braid her hair. That was two hours of actually physically making the effort and didn't even include the time that she spent looking at step-by-step photos and watching video tutorials. As her braid came unravelled _yet again,_ Penny groaned and flopped backwards on her bed. She grabbed her pillow and smushed it against her facd. 

"Why does this have to be so complicated?" She mumbled into the pillow in exhaustion. "Why can't I do it?"

She didn't understand. She had read plenty of written instructions, had looked at detailed photographs of the steps, and she had watched different video tutorials by various people. In theory, she should definitely be able to do it - and she should have been able to do it well. 

And yet, here she was. 

With her brown strands of hair slowly inching their way out of her - very meticulously placed - multiple rubber bands and endless bobby pins. She let out another groan as her braid finally collapsed, the escaped hair now tickling her on the back of her neck. 

Okay. One more try, she told herself, trying to muster up the energy. She sat up and relinquished her smothering grasp on her pillow. One more try. 

Then she realized she would have to take out all of the hair ties and find all of the bobby pins that were in here hair and take out those too. 

"Nope." She decided and flopped back down. She reached for both her pillow _and_ her blanket.

______________________________

"Aunt May." She hesitantly said, catching her aunt's attention immediately. "Do you have any suggestions on how to make my hair look better?" 

Aunt May seemed surprised. "Do you not like your hair?" She asked, taken aback. 

Penny shrugged. "I don't know if I _like_ it, but my boss certainly doesn't. She wants me to - and I quote - 'do something' with it. You know - to make it pretty." She explained.

Aunt May's lips pursed in anger. "Your boss can take her opinions and - and, well, what I think your boss should do with her opinion isn't suitable for your ears, Penny, dear." 

Penny smiled, her lips lifting in amusement at her aunt's protective fury. 

"I suppose you could curl your hair." Aunt May finally said, still looking upset. "My old curling iron is around here _somewhere,_ and I'm certainly not using it." 

Penny tugged at a strand of her hair for a moment. "But I don't really see the point; it's not like my hair is straight." She pointed out, dropping the wavy strand that she had been inspecting as proof. 

"Well it's not like it's curly either though." Aunt May replied, yet not unkindly. 

Which, that _was_ true, Penny had to admit. Her hair was somewhere between curly and straight; the only concrete thing about it was the frizz. She wouldn't exactly call it wavy either, now that she thought about it. It was just some big Hermione-esque thing that fell to her mid-back. Penny held up a strand and scrutinized it angrily. 

"Well." Aunt May mused. "Your Uncle is going to go get a haircut this weekend. Why don't you ask him to take you with him?"

"A haircut?" Penny asked in surprise, fingering the ends of her hair with her fingers again thoughtfully. 

"Sure." Aunt May smiled. "Haircuts can change a person's image instantly. You could get bangs, or side bangs, or layers, or maybe even just a little of the tips, at least, if you don't feel like committing to a big change." 

She nodded. "Okay. Yeah, sure. Just the dead ends. Sounds good."

_____________________________

"Do you want a perm, honey?" The hair cutter asked her. "Cute little face like yours - you'd look so pretty!" 

Penny used that 'cute little face' to pull a face. "I mean, I don't know..." She hedged. 'Pretty' _was_ the word that her boss had used, but Penny didn't really know it that described her. Or if she wanted a perm. For that matter, what exactly was a perm? 

The lady seemed to ignore her hesitance. "Really! With a perm, you won't have to really do much with your hair - it's already done! And it'll look so nice that you'll have to beat boys off with a stick!" 

Penny's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I'm not sure - That's not quite what I'm going for... " She admitted, just as Uncle Ben swiveled around. 

"Boys?" He asked, incredulous. His eyes narrowed at Penny's flustered, uncomfortable face. "For goodness' sake, she just wants a haircut for work." He said determinedly, and Penny shot him a grateful smile.

The haircutter pouted a bit. "Well. All right then. What sort of haircut are you thinking about today? Just a trim?" 

Penny hesitated. Would just a trim really solve any of her problems? Would her boss even notice the difference? 

"Penny?" Her uncle asked, and she realized that she had taken awhile to answer. 

"I - I'm not sure." She answered honestly.

He nodded slowly. "Okay. Have you looked through all those magazines that they've got out? Maybe you'll like something from there."

Penny glanced at the stack of magazines. "Yeah. I've looked at them."

Uncle Ben seemed surprised. "And you didn't like anything?" 

"Well..." Penny _had_ liked a haircut. But, well, she was certain that it wouldn't look good on her. So. "It didn't suit me." 

Her uncle frowned in disapproval. "Penny." He said firmly. "As long as you don't come home with - with a mohawk, I'm sure that you, your aunt, and I will love it." He paused. "What do I even know about fashion? If you really _did_ want a mohawk, I'm not saying that you _can't_ get one; I'm just saying that May will kill me if you do. So it's either me or the mohawk, in that case." 

She smiled. "It's not a mohawk." She promised. 

His eyes crinkled in amusement. "Well, then, you should go for it. You'll look wonderful, I'm sure of it!" He glanced around conspiratorially, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You'd probably even look good with a mohawk, but don't tell your aunt that I said that!" 

The glimmer in his eyes and the secretive, amused smirk were all also under a layer of kind supportiveness. His face was gentle as he waited, and she felt her shoulders feeling a bit lighter as the pressure seemed to lift. 

Penny laughed.

"Thanks, Uncle Ben." She said, her smile coming easily now. 

_____________________________

"Oh!" Aunt May covered her mouth in shock at the sight of Penny. 

Penny nervously peered in the room, reluctant to walk in and face her. "Uh. Surprise?" She said hesitantly. 

"Your hair!" Aunt May said at last, still sounding surprised. 

Penny fingered the soft ends. "Mmm-hmm. I got it cut." 

Aunt May dropped her hand, revealing a smile. Penny was instantly relieved. 

"Oh, _Penny,_ look at you!" Aunt May gushed, rushing forward in excitement. "It looks so nice! It's unexpected, certainly, but you look lovely." 

Penny ducked her head shyly, and Aunt May took that opportunity to run her hand through the newly shortened locks. 

"How do you like it?" She asked excitedly. 

"I love it." Penny answered, and it was an honest reply. "I really love it."

_______________________________

Her boss didn't love it. At all. 

"I thought - when I said do something with your hair, I _meant_ do something feminine!" Her boss cried out in despair. "You look - you look like a boy!" 

Penny shrugged in response. 

_______________________________

Penny's hair was cropped to her cheekbones. It was still fluffy, but the volume balanced nicely with the short length and the slimness of her face. 

And maybe her hair was slightly boyish. But Penny loved it. 

So, really, wasn't that all that mattered?

______________________________

"Um. Hi." Penny looked up from her camera as someone spoke to her. It was one of the lighting directors from that day's photo shoot. ...Jessica, maybe? She was decently sure that her name was Jessica. 

"Hi." Penny replied slowly, as she waited to be asked to do something. 

Jessica's cheeks darkened. "I was just wondering..." She paused for a while, and just as Penny was about to say something, she hurriedly continued. "...where you got your hair cut?" 

"Oh." Penny was surprised. "You noticed that, huh?" 

Jessica nodded quickly. "You look cute - your hair looks cute. Um. You look good. I like it." 

Penny smiled. "Thanks. Uh, sorry to disappoint you, but it's just the regular haircut store down by my house." 

"Oh!" Jessica bit her lip. "I see. Well, you look nice." 

Penny's cheeks flushed red. "Were - were you thinking about cutting your hair?" 

Jessica laughed. "Maybe? Not really." She admitted. She stared at Penny for a moment before quickly saying her goodbye. "Well, I'll see you around!" 

"See you." She answered back, a bit bewildered by the conversation. 

_______________________________

A month later, Harry Osborn cackled at that part as Penny had been retelling the entire story. Her head flopped backward to rest on Penny's stomach as the two lounged together on Penny's bed lazily. 

"Penny," She gleefully wheezed. And Penny smiled as Harry unashamedly laughed, braking her public persona in the safety of Penny's room. "She was _flirting_ with you, you idiot." 

" _What?_ " Penny asked in shock, mouth hanging agape. 

Harry snorted. "I guess it was a good thing that I was so obvious when _I_ was flirting with you, huh?" She mused to herself, still finding amusement in Penny's obliviousness. 

Penny puffed out her cheeks. "I would have noticed." She deflated. "Probably."

Harry only laughed more.

Penny smiled. 

Around her, her short hair fanned out around her like a brown, fluffy halo.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is because Penny's boss puts in her _two cents_ about her opinion on Penny's hair. Get it?  
>  (It's so terrible but I had literally nothing else to call this)


End file.
